Rwandan Appellations and the Road Home

OK, so it’s really cool here and all, but I gotta tell you, it’s a long time! Can’t wait to get home and see the fam and get back into the grind. Lots of stories to tell you, and most of them will be the honest truth.
I think I’m gonna get a Big Mac soon as I see those arches!! Living on beans, rice, goat, beef, and chicken, prepared about two ways is getting to me.

Today (Thursday evening now) we cupped the different regions for intensity. We defined some clear trends toward the specific tastes over the past few days, so now we will use those tastes for each appellation and determine intensity. How much orange, chocolate, current is present… how much acidity and what kind: malic, citric, phosophorous, etc…. very interesting. Can’t wait to see more results and hopefully be part of this process going forward.

This is the sort of descriptive cupping that every coffee country should embrace. At the end of the project, we will have defined each region’s specific flavor profiles. These will become excellent tools for educating and marketing an origin, with clear descriptors that consumers will be able to detect and appreciate as they come to understand the nuances of each appellation.

I’m heading to Kigali now for a flight in the morning. Back in P-town on Sat, but will be pretty jet lagged. See you next week!